In an electric power system, switchgear is the combination of electrical disconnect switches,

fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear
is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be done and to clear faults
downstream. This type of equipment is directly linked to the reliability of the electricity
supply.
The earliest central power stations used simple open knife switches, mounted on insulating
panels of marble or asbestos. Power levels and voltages rapidly escalated, making opening
manually operated switches too dangerous for anything other than isolation of a de-energized
circuit. Oil-filled equipment allowed arc energy to be contained and safely controlled. By the
early 20th century, a switchgear line-up would be a metal-enclosed structure with electrically
operated switching elements, using oil circuit breakers. Today, oil-filled equipment has
largely been replaced by finger-blast, vacuum, or SF6 equipment, allowing large currents and
power levels to be safely controlled by automatic equipment.
High-voltage switchgear was invented at the end of the 19th century for operating motors and
other electric machines.[1] The technology has been improved over time and can now be used
with voltages up to 1,100 kV.[2]
Typically, switchgears in substations are located on both the high- and low-voltage sides of
large power transformers. The switchgear on the low-voltage side of the transformers may be
located in a building, with medium-voltage circuit breakers for distribution circuits, along
with metering, control, and protection equipment. For industrial applications, a transformer
and switchgear line-up may be combined in one housing, called a unitized substation (USS).

Contents

1 Components
2 Functions

3 History

4 Housing

5 Circuit breaker types

5.1 Oil

5.2 Air

5.3 Gas

5.4 Hybrid

5.5 Vacuum

5.6 Carbon dioxide (CO2)

6 Protective circuitry
o

6.1 Circuit breakers and fuses

6.2 Merz-Price circulating current scheme

6.3 Distance relays

7 Classification

8 Safety

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

Components
A switchgear has two types of components:

Power conducting components, such as switches, circuit breakers, fuses, and lightning
arrestors, that conduct or interrupt the flow of electrical power
Control systems such as control panels, current transformers, potential transformers,
protective relays, and associated circuitry, that monitor, control, and protect the power
conducting components

Functions
One of the basic functions of switchgear is protection, which is interruption of short-circuit
and overload fault currents while maintaining service to unaffected circuits. Switchgear also
provides isolation of circuits from power supplies. Switchgear is also used to enhance system
availability by allowing more than one source to feed a load.

History

Early switchgear (about 1910)

Switchgears are as old as electricity generation. The first models were very primitive: all
components were simply fixed to a wall. Later they were mounted on wooden panels. For
reasons of fire protection, the wood was replaced by slate or marble. This led to a further
improvement, because the switching and measuring devices could be attached to the front,
while the wiring was on the back.[3]

Housing
Switchgear for lower voltages may be entirely enclosed within a building. For higher voltages
(over about 66 kV), switchgear is typically mounted outdoors and insulated by air, although
this requires a large amount of space. Gas-insulated switchgear saves space compared with
air-insulated equipment, although the equipment cost is higher. Oil insulated switchgear
presents an oil spill hazard.
Switches may be manually operated or have motor drives to allow for remote control.

Circuit breaker types

A switchgear may be a simple open-air isolator switch or it may be insulated by some other
substance. An effective although more costly form of switchgear is the gas-insulated
switchgear (GIS), where the conductors and contacts are insulated by pressurized sulfur
hexafluoride gas (SF6). Other common types are oil or vacuum insulated switchgear.
The combination of equipment within the switchgear enclosure allows them to interrupt fault
currents of thousands of amps. A circuit breaker (within a switchgear enclosure) is the
primary component that interrupts fault currents. The quenching of the arc when the circuit
breaker pulls apart the contacts (disconnects the circuit) requires careful design. Circuit
breakers fall into these five types:

Oil

Oil circuit breakers rely upon vaporization of some of the oil to blast a jet of oil along the
path of the arc. The vapor released by the arcing consists of hydrogen gas. Mineral oil has
better insulating property than air. Whenever there is a separation of current carrying contacts

in the oil, the arc in circuit breaker is initialized at the moment of separation of contacts, and
due to this arc the oil is vaporized and decomposed in mostly hydrogen gas and ultimately
creates a hydrogen bubble around the electric arc. This highly compressed gas bubble around
the arc prevents re-striking of the arc after current reaches zero crossing of the cycle. The oil
circuit breaker is one of the oldest type of circuit breakers.[4]

Air
Air circuit breakers may use compressed air (puff) or the magnetic force of the arc itself to
elongate the arc. As the length of the sustainable arc is dependent on the available voltage, the
elongated arc will eventually exhaust itself. Alternatively, the contacts are rapidly swung into
a small sealed chamber, the escaping of the displaced air thus blowing out the arc.
Circuit breakers are usually able to terminate all current flow very quickly: typically between
30 ms and 150 ms depending upon the age and construction of the device.

Gas
Main article: Sulfur hexafluoride circuit breaker
Gas (SF6) circuit breakers sometimes stretch the arc using a magnetic field, and then rely
upon the dielectric strength of the SF6 gas to quench the stretched arc.

Hybrid
Main article: Hybrid switchgear modules
Hybrid switchgear is a type which combines the components of traditional air-insulated
switchgear (AIS) and SF6 gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) technologies. It is characterized by
a compact and modular design, which encompasses several different functions in one module.

Vacuum
Circuit breakers with vacuum interrupters have minimal arcing characteristics (as there is
nothing to ionize other than the contact material), so the arc quenches when it is stretched by
a small amount (<28 mm). Near zero current the arc is not hot enough to maintain a plasma,
and current ceases; the gap can then withstand the rise of voltage. Vacuum circuit breakers
are frequently used in modern medium-voltage switchgear to 40,500 volts. Unlike the other
types, they are inherently unsuitable for interrupting DC faults. The reason vacuum circuit
breakers are unsuitable for breaking high DC voltages is that with DC there is no "current
zero" period. The plasma arc can feed itself by continuing to gasify the contact material.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Breakers that use carbon dioxide as the insulating and arc extinguishing medium work on the
same principles as a sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) breaker. Because SF6 is a greenhouse gas more
potent than CO2, by switching from SF6 to CO2 it is possible to reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions by 10 tons during the product lifecycle.[5]

Protective circuitry
Circuit breakers and fuses
Circuit breakers and fuses disconnect when current exceeds a predetermined safe level.
However they cannot sense other critical faults, such as unbalanced currentsfor example,
when a transformer winding contacts ground. By themselves, circuit breakers and fuses
cannot distinguish between short circuits and high levels of electrical demand.

Merz-Price circulating current scheme

Differential protection depends upon Kirchhoff's current law, which states that the sum of
currents entering or leaving a circuit node must equal zero. Using this principle to implement
differential protection, any section of a conductive path may be considered a node, The
conductive path could be a transmission line, a winding of a transformer, a winding in a
motor, or a winding in the stator of an alternator. This form of protection works best when
both ends of the conductive path are physically close to each other. This scheme was invented
in Great Britain by Charles Hesterman Merz and Bernard Price.[6]
Two identical current transformers are used for each winding of a transformer, stator, or other
device. The current transformers are placed around opposite ends of a winding. The current
through both ends should be identical. A protective relay detects any imbalance in currents,
and trips circuit breakers to isolate the device. In the case of a transformer, the circuit
breakers on both the primary and secondary would open.

Distance relays
A short circuit at the end of a long transmission line appears similar to a normal load, because
of the impedance of the transmission line limits the fault current. A distance relay detects a
fault by comparing the voltage and current on the transmission line. A large current along
with a voltage drop indicates a fault.

Classification
Several different classifications of switchgear can be made:[7]

By the current rating.

By interrupting rating (maximum short circuit current kAIC that the device can safely
interrupt)
o

Circuit breakers can open and close on fault currents

Load-break/Load-make switches can switch normal system load currents

Isolators are off load disconnectors which are to be operated after Circuit
Breakers, or else if the load current is very small

By voltage class:
o

Low voltage (less than 1 kV AC)

Medium voltage (1 kV AC through to approximately 75 kV AC)

High voltage (75 kV to about 230 kV AC)

Extra high voltage, ultra high voltage (more than 230 kV)

By insulating medium:
o

Air

Gas (SF6 or mixtures)

Oil

Vacuum

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

By construction type:
o

Indoor (further classified by IP (Ingress Protection) class or NEMA enclosure

type)

Outdoor

Industrial

Utility

Marine

Draw-out elements (removable without many tools)

Fixed elements (bolted fasteners)

Live-front

Dead-front

Open

Metal-enclosed (ME) A switchgear assembly completely enclosed on all

sides and the top with sheet metal.[8]

Metal-clad (MC) A more expensive variety of metal-enclosed switchgear

that has the following characteristics: the main switching and interrupting
device of removable type; grounded metal barriers to separate compartments
and enclose all major circuits and parts; mechanical interlocks; insulated bus
conductors and other features.[9][10]

Arc-resistant

By IEC degree of internal separation[11]

o

No Separation (Form 1)

Busbars separated from functional units (Form 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b)

Terminals for external conductors separated from busbars (Form 2b, 3b, 4a,
4b)

Terminals for external conductors separated from functional units but not from
each other (Form 3a, 3b)

Functional units separated from each other (Form 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b)

Terminals for external conductors separated from each other (Form 4a, 4b)

Terminals for external conductors separate from their associated functional

unit (Form 4b)

By interrupting device:
o

Fuses

Air Circuit Breaker

Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker

Oil Circuit Breaker

Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Gas (SF6) Circuit breaker

CO2 Circuit Breaker

By operating method:
o

Manually operated

Motor/stored energy operated

Solenoid operated

By type of current:
o

Alternating current

Direct current

By application:
o

Transmission system

Distribution

By purpose
o

Isolating switches (disconnectors)

Load-break switches.[12][13]

Grounding (earthing) switches

A single line-up may incorporate several different types of devices, for example, air-insulated
bus, vacuum circuit breakers, and manually operated switches may all exist in the same row
of cubicles.
Ratings, design, specifications and details of switchgear are set by a multitude of standards.
In North America mostly IEEE and ANSI standards are used, much of the rest of the world
uses IEC standards, sometimes with local national derivatives or variations.

Safety
To help ensure safe operation sequences of switchgear, trapped key interlocking provides
predefined scenarios of operation. For example, if only one of two sources of supply are
permitted to be connected at a given time, the interlock scheme may require that the first
switch must be opened to release a key that will allow closing the second switch. Complex
schemes are possible.
Indoor switchgear can also be type tested for internal arc containment (e.g., IEC 62271-200).
This test is important for user safety as modern switchgear is capable of switching large
currents.[14]
Switchgear is often inspected using thermal imaging to assess the state of the system and
predict failures before they occur. Other methods include partial discharge (PD) testing, using
either fixed or portable testers, and acoustic emission testing using surface-mounted
transducers (for oil equipment) or ultrasonic detectors used in outdoor switchyards.
Temperature sensors fitted to cables to the switchgear can permanently monitor temperature
build-up. SF6 equipment is invariably fitted with alarms and interlocks to warn of loss of
pressure, and to prevent operation if the pressure falls too low.
The increasing awareness of dangers associated with high fault levels has resulted in network
operators specifying closed-door operations for earth switches and racking breakers. Many
European power companies have banned operators from switch rooms while operating.
Remote racking systems are available which allow an operator to rack switchgear from a
remote location without the need to wear a protective arc flash hazard suit.

245 kV circuit breaker in air insulated substation 420 kV gas insulated switchgear
...

See also

Arc flash
Circuit breaker

Disconnector

Electrical safety

Electric arc

High voltage

Remote racking system

Short circuit

References
1.
British Pattern GB 20069 Improvements in Apparatus for Controlling the Application or
Use of Electric Currents of High Tension and Great Quantity in 1893, on espacenet.com
Lin Jiming et al., Transient characteristics of 1 100 kV circuit-breakers, International
Symposium on International Standards for Ultra High Voltage, Beijing, Juillet 2007.
(German) Allgemeine Elektricitts-Gesellschaft (ed) AEG Hilfsbuch fr elektrische
Licht- und Kraftanlagen 6th Ed., W. Girardet, Essen 1953
http://www.electrical4u.com/oil-circuit-breaker-bulk-and-minimum-oil-circuitbreaker/
"Switzerland : ABB breaks new ground with environment friendly high-voltage circuit
breaker.". Retrieved 9 July 2013.
Robert Monro Black (January 1983). The History of Electric Wires and Cables. IET.
pp. 101. ISBN 978-0-86341-001-7.
Robert W. Smeaton (ed) Switchgear and Control Handbook 3rd Ed., McGraw Hill,
New York 1997 ISBN 0-07-058451-6
IEEE Std C37.20.2-1999. IEEE Standard for Metal-Clad Switchgear.
IEEE Std C37.100-1992. IEEE Standard Definitions for Power Switchgear.
"Metal-Clad vs Metal-Enclosed". ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS AND MASTER
ELECTRICIANS PORTAL. November 4, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
IEC Standard EN 60439 part 1 Table 6A
(French) Norme CEI 60265-1 Interrupteurs pour tension assigne suprieure 1 kV
et infrieure 52 kV Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
(French) Norme CEI 60265-2 Interrupteurs pour tension assigne suprieure 52 kV
Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
https://www.energy.siemens.com/cms/00000013/aune/Documents/Medium%20Voltage
%20Arc%20Fault%20Containment.pdf Archived March 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.